Wooden floor underlay question

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In the next of what will no doubt be a lot of DIY questions.

Underlay. What's the better type. In wickes they have a 5mm what looks like green foamboard and a silver backed type but is only 3mm but is that any better. They're just doing an offer on the silver type at the moment.

A couple of years ago when we did my girlfriend's place b&q did rolls of a similar silver type which the fitter said was the best. But they want £38 a roll for that , wickes' version is 2 for 40
 
It also depends on the flooring. Ours needed an adhesive backed foam.
 
May be worth looking at what you already have in relation to door heights ( although I hired a door trimming saw and adjusted 3 in under an hour including cleanup).
 
It depends on the subfloor.

The thin grey roll stuff is fine if you have lovely flat floors and no moisture problem. If it's a bit more wobbly (and your floors need to be really pretty flat for wood) then go with the board.

I've used this stuff on concrete. http://www.floorsdirectltd.co.uk/fibreboard-underlay.html

And yeah, 100% what @stevewestern says. DIY shops aren't the best place for this kind of stuff. I've bought stuff at the place I linked to above and always been happy. Talk to them for advice.
 
We put the green fibre board stuff under ours - no issues at all and also helps with a little sound deadening when walking on it...
 
It's going down onto floorboards rather than concrete so the 5mm green thicker stuff might be better
 
We put the green fibre board stuff under ours - no issues at all and also helps with a little sound deadening when walking on it...
:agree: I have laminate floors throughout the house and I used the green fibre board from B&Q.
the same product from a dealer costs more than the B&Q product but it is only pennies. (same product)
I laid it on wooden floorboards too. the fibre board is warmer & quieter.
 
In our old house which had a bitumen floor I used the thick green fibreboard stuff and it was great, smoothed out the sub surface, insulated a bit and deaded the sound a bit. In our newer house with the same flooring type I used thinner roll silver backed stuff which is crap, the wood floor floats in places where the bitumen beneath sinks. Its so annoying I may take it all up to redo the underlay.
 
I used some green stuff with a foil top. Got a jigsaw type interlock along the sides and I taped the seams as well. Can't remember how thick it is but IIRC it came from B&Q.
 
I had laminate floor in bedrooms, but went back to carpets, they can be quite noisy in upstairs bedrooms especially for kids rooms.
They can, but a decent underlay will minimize any noise, though obviously not as well as a good underlay and carpet.
 
The only issue with the green stuff, fibreboard, is that it makes a real mess when you cut it.

Wickes, or sxrewfix do another type of board that works in a similar principle called xps foam board, which cuts lovely.

Whatever of the 2 you use the advantage of them is the edge of the floorboards if they are raised cut into the back of the board more on the high points and less in the low points so you end up with a flatter surface to lay the laminate on making it less bouncy underfoot ultimately.

I would recommend you tape the joints of the underlay boards together as well.
 
Remember that the thickness of the underlay can affect your doors, skirting boards etc. Adding 5mm underlay to say a 12mm laminate can mean a ton of joinery work if your doors and skirtings need raised. Underlay like the green boards have values attributed to them for sound proofing, insulating qualities etc and these are found on the packaging. The best stuff in my opinion is cork which comes in rolls in the likes of b&q and in only around 2mm thick but is really good stuff although expensive. Even the cheap foam rolls are really only useful for sound proofing but it you don't need to worry about neighbours underneath and have a hot house its fine.
 
Had the cheap white stuff under 8mm boards and recently changed the flooring using 12mm board.
It's been fine for my house.
 
The only issue with the green stuff, fibreboard, is that it makes a real mess when you cut it.

Ah - the mess is nothing to what you get using one of these. It's great for laminate though :D

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We set the saw up outside (picked a nice day in December for the job!) and used a super sucker to cut down any dust nuisance for the neighbours. Did the whole ground floor in a day. Did the conservatory on my own in a morning but I did start at 05:00 or so. Didn't start cutting the boards until 08:00 for that even though I was using a hand saw - all the cuts were simple since the conservatory is dead square. Cork expansion gaps all round everywhere.
 
The only issue with the green stuff, fibreboard, is that it makes a real mess when you cut it.

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I would recommend you tape the joints of the underlay boards together as well.

I used a new stanly knife blade and a robust stingy edge, ran it through, turn over if it’s not cut completely, bend at cut and your away - no mess, clean cut.

Same principle as cutting plasterboard really.

Def tape the joints up as it helps bond everything together
 
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